Daily 5 Chapter 5

Better late than never, right?

I sorta got lost... I couldn't find where you guys went (who was hosting the next chapter that is) and everytime I went to check, my computer would freeze on me. Then I'd get tired of restarting and I'd just have to go to bed. I can only blog when my children are asleep, so that means around lunchtime (and I'm eating then, duh) or after they go to bed at night.
So, here I am finally!!!

And I finally figured out our hosts...

So, this chapter talks about Read to Someone and Listen to Reading. Since I've never done the Daily 5, I LOVE how there are step by step and day by day lessons to get started. I came across the appendix in the back and I love how the lessons are already in a handy chart for me! Very helpful!

What I'm really thinking about is how I'm going to incorporate this in many ways. I will use these both in the ways they are intended, but I also plan to expand these to work with our new "5th Grade Buddies." See, my BFF teaching partner and life coach and partner in crime and whatever else you want to call her has devastated me. She is moving...to 5th Grade!!!! And she's only taught K and 1!!!! Crazy, right?!?! Well, it's a long story, but basically, she was asked and she's too nice to say no to almost anyone, so she's moving. Far, far away. Down another hall. My life may be over.

But never fear! We've figured out that our classes will be buddies! And they can help each other out. The firsties will love having "Big Kids" in the room and the 5th graders will love being teachers. I really think it will be great for all the kids and I think the 5th graders could be really good models and good listeners.

What do you think? Have you done anything like this before? Do you have any advice?

Well, we're in the home stretch as far as the book goes! Almost done! I'm ready to finish it and get started! Without the summer being over. And without school starting.

Daily 5 Chapter 4

Oh my, I loved this chapter! I really feel like I'm starting to "get it" and with the detailed ideas on how to implement the parts of Daily 5, the little wheels in my head are really turning!

This chapter focuses on Read to Self. Which I've always done in my room, but since I never really taught them how to do this, you can imagine that I had several mostly off-taskers. They always got a book, looked at a few pictures, showed them to their friends, then went back to the library to get another book. They did this over and over and I would remind them to hurry and choose a book, but I was always scared to discourage them too much because I've always wanted my kids to love "independent reading" time. This chapter will really help me with those kids.

I also love the book boxes and giving the kids many books in their boxes from day one! That's awesome and I've never thought to do that. I've always just had one basket of books on each table that each child could choose from. So they were at least getting some free choice, but they never felt like they belonged to them. They were the table books.

I'm not ready to go back to school yet, but this sure gets me excited. I do have a few questions I need help with, though...

1. What about the books the kids get for guided reading? Do these go in a separate book box or bag? How do I keep these organized?

2. How long do I keep the books in their boxes? Am I missing the point? Should I not worry about that?

Link up with these great hosts! They've got some great freebies! Thanks guys!!! And join the party! I'd love to read some more about this chapter!

Daily 5 Chapter 3

Hi y'all!
I hope your summer is going great! Mine is! I'm spending a lot of time with my boys which is AWESOME most of the time! I really have a great thing going because they all go to school/mother's day out twice a week, so I have 2 days a week that I can work on my projects, relax, see my friends. Ok. I'll be honest. I have not really worked on any projects yet. But I've bought fabric. And I've done the projects....Mentally. In my head, they're already done. I shouldn't tell you that I complained on facebook the other day that I thought Pinterest was mean for making me think I could do these cutsey things. I am not cutsey. But I pretend.
Anyhoo...I digress...
On to the Daily 5, Chapter 3!
I am joining the blog hop with Mrs. Freshwater's Class and Thinking Out Loud. Head on over to their blogs and link up!



This chapter was great because we're starting to get into the how to of the routine and expectations. I'm not going to write about each topic as many of the rest of you have already done because you've already done that. And I've not done Daily 5 yet. So I'm going to share the parts of the chapter that really spoke to me.
1. Good Fit Books- Oh my goodness! This idea makes so much sense. Can I just say, duh?! I  get so irritated with myself when I hear something like this and I realize I hadn't already thought of it myself. Ha! But really, of course a child is capable of selecting and reading a book of their own choice if I help them figure out how. And there is the motivation factor that is always so hard to find, in my humble opinion. Kids want to read the books they want to read. It's that simple. Not just kids. Everyone. I saw my principal the other day (love her) and I told her I was joining in this book study and no one had to ask me to read the chapters. I'm just doing it. When I'm supposed to. Not 10 minutes before a meeting. And she said, "Yeah, isn't it amazing when you can choose the book yourself?" Exactly.

2. Short Intervals of Repeated Practice-I LOVE that the sisters said, "...if a child, even one, goes off-task during the practice time, the signal should be given to stop and gather students back together to review how it went. We never want children to continue with the off-task behavior because that means they are practicing the wrong way and training their muscle memories incorrectly." Because the whole time, I was thinking of Max. You know Max. I've mentioned him before and everyone has a Max. I kept wondering what I would do with Max because he was one that would need to practice stamina. And for the sisters to point out that that child did the best he could at that time. I have to give him that practice with stamina so that he could be as successful as the others.

So, that's it! There were other great ideas, but these two thoughts were the most important in my mind. I hope you keep reading as I will. I even just got the Cafe Book, even though I know nothing about it.
I'll leave you with a couple of questions...I would love to hear your answers in my comments...
1. Those of you who have done Daily 5 before, will I really be able to teach all the Max's out there to do this correctly?
2. Do you have a love/hate with Pinterest?
3. How's your summer so far?!

Talk to you soon!!!

Daily 5 Chapter 2

Hey there! I am back, ready to post about Chapter 2 in the Daily 5 book. I've actually tried to post a couple of other times...has blogger been acting crazy for you? It is seriously about to make me crazy!!!

Anyhoo...I am loving the book so far. Everything I've read just makes sense. I am linking up with a couple of blogs. Why don't you join me?!?!

Some things to think about while reading this chapter:

1. Do you trust your students? How do you build this trust? Are you able to trust them and allow them to be independent throughout all aspects of your day? Are you going to be able to stay out of their way? I do trust most of my students most of the time but I recognize that I can't trust all of them all of the time and that's mostly my fault. I want to get started so quickly at the beginning of the year that I don't spend long enough training and guiding them. I'm hoping for help from this book. I do think I'll be able to stay out of their way. But what about those kids. You know the ones. Like my Max from last year. Doesn't follow rules anywhere else in his life so why would he follow them at school? Will I be able to reach him?

2. How much choice do you give your students throughout the day? (would love for you to share some examples!) Do you go over your daily schedule with your students or is it just 'posted' in the room? I feel like I give them some choice within certain boundaries. I let them read books of their choice during independent reading time. I let them write their own stories during writers workshop. Also let them solve math problems using their own strategies but these are all within my timeline. I don't know if that is enough choice for what the sisters are talking about here.

3. How are you going to create that sense of community where students will hold each other accountable? First of all, I'm going to try and make my room look really cute! That's important right?!?! I'm so excited about my blue and green colors this year. I am working on a few projects that I will share later on this summer. But hopefully, if I train the kids well and set up all of their expectations, I won't have to do too much accountability checking. I think they'll chech each other for me.

4. Student ownership in learning? How do you instill this in every child? Abso-stinkin-lutely!!! Writer's workshop has taught me that you always get your student's best when they know why they're doing something and that it belongs to them. I tell my kids from the beginning of the year that if they really want to learn to read, they will, if they practice and use their strategies, just like all the athletes out there. The only way to get better is to practice and I can't do it for you. They may grumble at first but once they see it working with themselves or their peers they get on board quickly!

5. Stamina! How are you going to build stamina with reading? independent work? Will you use a timer? Will you set goals? ... Stamina is really a new idea for me. Of course the kids are able to do more and for longer at the end of the year than at the beginning, but I've never taught that or talked about it. I'm excited to learn more about this!!

What do you think? Take a minute and leave a comment! :)

The Daily 5

Hello there!
Sorry about being MIA but I have had to take a vacation!!! I know. Don't you feel sorry for me?! We had to go to Florida and we left the day after there was a blogger meet up in Florida! Oh well, I was on the gulf side anyway! Anyhoo...I am linking up to join this awesome book study that several teachers from blogs are doing!
Have you read the Daily 5? I am just beginning. I've had the book for over a year but now I'm finally digging in! To begin, you need to get the book. Then read Chapter 1 and go to Mel D's blog.

Here are a few framing questions to ponder about Chapter One:

1. On pages 4-6, the authors present two different pictures of their classrooms. In thinking about and reflecting on your own practice, how would you characterize your literacy block? Does it look more like the first or second scenario, or is it somewhere in between? How will you change it?

My classroom probably is a combination of the two. I KNOW my stations/centers need work, but I feel like the small group instruction goes very well so I've had the internal debate for years about how I feel about their independent work at stations. A few years, I made them keep journals and they never went well because I never followed through or kept up with them. It was just too much. Now I have felt like, I know time could be better spent in their stations, but since small group instruction goes pretty well and they meet with a teacher everyday, I kind of don't care am not able to follow up with their independent work. :) I hope using D5 will prove to me that those other kids should be using their time a little more wisely. Don't get me wrong, I think their stations went well (they were reading, writing, listening to books on cd, etc.) but I think the work could be more purposeful and driven by their instructional level.

2. The typical teacher is very busy having students do lots of different activities. How is what you are having students do now in your classroom creating quality readers and writers?

Like I said, the small group guided reading instruction has been going well and my students always seem to feel much better about their own reading abilities by the time they are done with first grade. I also have used writer's workshop in my room for years and for the most part, they love writing their stories, sharing and publishing them.  But I also had a really good class last year. I'm expecting next year's group to be a little more....challenging.

3. What sets the Daily 5 structure apart from what you are doing in your classroom?

Having only read Chapter one, I'm not completely sure yet, but it sounds very different from my current classroom. My students have always gone to stations and they did not have a choice what station they had to do, I made that decision for them. I put my students in groups based on their ability & reading levels. I am excited to continue learning to see how to implement the D5!

Okay, so now you need to link up at Mel D's blog, leave me a comment, and read chapter 2.  Here are your guiding questions for next week as you read chapter 2...

1 .What goals do you have for your classroom as you work to implement the principles and foundations of the Daily 5 discussed in chapter 2? What support do you need to do this?

2. What stands out as the most significant aspects of this chapter?

3. How do the foundational principles of the Daily 5 structure (trust, choice, community, sense of urgency, and stamina), align with your beliefs that support your teaching strategies and the decisions that you make about student learning?